On the day we visited Stanley park, my stomach woke me up at 5am and I couldn’t get back to sleep. One perk to being awake at the crack of dawn was watching the sunrise over the North Shore. I started a time lapse video on my phone and liberated a brownie from our bag of hiking snacks — technically it was lunchtime at home.
We boarded the SeaBus on the North Shore and crossed over to Vancouver, then walked from Waterfront station to Stanley Park. It only took us around 45 minutes in total and it was nice to some of the quieter areas of the city.
Lost Lagoon is where the park entrance meets the city and felt like one of the busier spots. It was a hot sunny day so there were lots of people walking, cycling and running. We headed towards Beaver Lake instead and that direction was much quieter. Shaded trails, cedar trees and lakes helped us feel miles away from the hum of the city.
This is Beaver Lake. I’m not sure whether it was heat or some sort of vegetation but it stank. The pink water lilies were nice though!
Burrard Inlet is where the forest met the sea. We spent a bit of time trying to get a good photo of the sea planes flying overhead. It was harder than we thought so we put our feet up for a while and looked out over the North Shore. I could have sat there for hours but there was more to see!
Did you spot the purple starfish on the shore in the photo above? I had no idea it was possible to find starfish in Canada. Once we spotted one, we realised they were dotted all over the shore.
Our plan was to follow the seawall around the shore and then cut back into the park — that was before we realised there were no gaps or steps in the wall. In the end we followed the seawall from Burrard Inlet, round to Third Beach. I’m glad we ended up taking a detour though, it was a nice walk. I would always choose the forest over the ocean but Stanley Park had the best of both worlds.
We nicknamed the rock above, ‘pineapple rock’.
Arriving at Third Beach mean’t one thing — gelato time! Mint chocolate chip always wins.
Back in the park, we found some giant cedar trees. Unfortunately this one was burnt away on the inside. Scott gives you an idea of scale and I think this tree was probably several hundred years old.
Stanley Park’s trail network means you can easily spend a whole day exploring. We clocked up over 12 miles and there were still corners we hadn’t explored.
The day finished as beautiful as it started. Look at this sunset!
This is a pretty neat place. I loved just sitting on the beach soaking in some rays listening to the birds and waves. Peaceful!
Same, it was one of my favourite days from the trip 🙂